We the Drowned
by
Carsten Jensen
There's a sameness about the lives of sailors before the mast and miners below ground and whether you drown at sea when a ship goes down in a howling gail or die of starvation and foul air after a mine collapse the result is the same and men feel powerless to act in their own defence. In spite of this generations of sailors and miners ply their trade with a sense of fatalism as their fathers did before them. Alas, little seems to have changed over the centuries and despite advances in technology man is still powerless in the face of a raging sea.
The brutality of life in the mid-1800’s as described in these pages is unsettling. I'm reminded of the story of the little girl who arrives at school eager to learn who is lined up with her classmates and watches as each in turn is beaten by their new master. An entire chapter is devoted to the description of a sadistic Danish Schoolmaster who administers daily flailings with a rope. In the end the only thing his male students learn in their 6 years with him is how to take a beating. This lesson they take with them when at 12 to 14 they go to sea as cabin boys and the beatings continue.
The captain of a sailing vessel that could be at sea for years at a time had the power of life and death over his crew, to this day captains have the right to perform marriages. Given the dregs of society that were often rousted out of bars and jails to fill out a ship's complement iron discipline was probably necessary but the cruelty and hazing here described makes one wonder why anyone in their right mind would submit to such indignities.
Given the conditions in which these men live the language used is salty and the sufferings they endure are described in a frank and forthright manner. In battle men soil themselves and as cannon and musket balls fly bodies are rended and blood and guts flow. This is not a book to be read by the squeamish.
All this said the stories told here ring true and bring to life an era that is now history. Never boring they keep one turning pages to find the outcome. There is a matter-of-factness about the way these sagas are related and a fatalism about the way the hardships these men must endure are described. While their menfolk are at sea for years on end their wives back home keep the family together cooking and cleaning without an end in sight and without any certainty that their men will ever return or that word of their demise will ever reach home.
It’s one of the ironies of a sailing vessel that calm seas are not a good thing. While a ship lay becalmed in the horse lattitudes fresh water and food supplies could run out leaving a crew in dire straits. With no land in sight and a cloudless sky desperate things could happen. On the other hand storms at sea can drive a ship onto a lee shore, a reef, or a rocky shoal and when water temperatures are near freezing or the waves 100 foot high the ability to swim means little.
This book gives a unique perspective on the life of the women and children back home that would not go amiss in much of Newfoundland. Husbands and fathers went to sea for periods of up to 5 years and were not heard of until their boat came back in port. Children were born never knowing their fathers or meeting a stranger after they attained school age. Boys became midshipman at age 12 to 14, cabin boys in less exalted contexts and likely objects of sexual favours. The wives back home became defacto widows for years at a time and all too often never heard of their husbands again if their ships went down without a trace. The transition from sail to steam to diesel engines and iron ships was horrendous for many. Ship to shore radio and the internet has ushered in an entirely new communication age but sailors whether navy or merchant marine are still physically absent for extended periods of time.
by
Carsten Jensen
There's a sameness about the lives of sailors before the mast and miners below ground and whether you drown at sea when a ship goes down in a howling gail or die of starvation and foul air after a mine collapse the result is the same and men feel powerless to act in their own defence. In spite of this generations of sailors and miners ply their trade with a sense of fatalism as their fathers did before them. Alas, little seems to have changed over the centuries and despite advances in technology man is still powerless in the face of a raging sea.
The brutality of life in the mid-1800’s as described in these pages is unsettling. I'm reminded of the story of the little girl who arrives at school eager to learn who is lined up with her classmates and watches as each in turn is beaten by their new master. An entire chapter is devoted to the description of a sadistic Danish Schoolmaster who administers daily flailings with a rope. In the end the only thing his male students learn in their 6 years with him is how to take a beating. This lesson they take with them when at 12 to 14 they go to sea as cabin boys and the beatings continue.
The captain of a sailing vessel that could be at sea for years at a time had the power of life and death over his crew, to this day captains have the right to perform marriages. Given the dregs of society that were often rousted out of bars and jails to fill out a ship's complement iron discipline was probably necessary but the cruelty and hazing here described makes one wonder why anyone in their right mind would submit to such indignities.
Given the conditions in which these men live the language used is salty and the sufferings they endure are described in a frank and forthright manner. In battle men soil themselves and as cannon and musket balls fly bodies are rended and blood and guts flow. This is not a book to be read by the squeamish.
All this said the stories told here ring true and bring to life an era that is now history. Never boring they keep one turning pages to find the outcome. There is a matter-of-factness about the way these sagas are related and a fatalism about the way the hardships these men must endure are described. While their menfolk are at sea for years on end their wives back home keep the family together cooking and cleaning without an end in sight and without any certainty that their men will ever return or that word of their demise will ever reach home.
It’s one of the ironies of a sailing vessel that calm seas are not a good thing. While a ship lay becalmed in the horse lattitudes fresh water and food supplies could run out leaving a crew in dire straits. With no land in sight and a cloudless sky desperate things could happen. On the other hand storms at sea can drive a ship onto a lee shore, a reef, or a rocky shoal and when water temperatures are near freezing or the waves 100 foot high the ability to swim means little.
This book gives a unique perspective on the life of the women and children back home that would not go amiss in much of Newfoundland. Husbands and fathers went to sea for periods of up to 5 years and were not heard of until their boat came back in port. Children were born never knowing their fathers or meeting a stranger after they attained school age. Boys became midshipman at age 12 to 14, cabin boys in less exalted contexts and likely objects of sexual favours. The wives back home became defacto widows for years at a time and all too often never heard of their husbands again if their ships went down without a trace. The transition from sail to steam to diesel engines and iron ships was horrendous for many. Ship to shore radio and the internet has ushered in an entirely new communication age but sailors whether navy or merchant marine are still physically absent for extended periods of time.
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